VZCZCXRO2507
RR RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0041/01 0221334
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221334Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8552
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0147

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 000041 
 
DEPT FOR EUR, DRL, DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER AND DRL/ILCSR FOR TU 
DANG 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA: NO SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE AREA OF CHILD 
LABOR IN 2008 
 
REF: A) 08 STATE 127448, B) 07 YEREVAN 1416, 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) There have been no changes with respect to child labor or 
worst forms of child labor in Armenia during the reporting period. 
Armenia has adopted all international agreements on children's 
rights, and there have been no new legal changes in this area.  On 
October 30, 2008, UNICEF officially published the nationwide survey 
on child labor it had mandated in 2007 (ref B).  According to UNICEF 
child employment exists to a limited extent in Armenia, and is 
mainly due to harsh social conditions and poverty.  Children are not 
involved in manufacturing of goods in Armenia.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The following information updates previously reported 
material provided in ref B and is keyed to the information request 
in Paragraph 9 of ref A. 
 
A) Laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child labor: 
 
 
-- There have been no changes in legislation with respect to child 
labor/employment in 2008. 
 
-- Article 32 of the Constitution prohibits compulsory labor, 
including by children, and prohibits engaging children under 16 into 
full-time jobs. 
 
-- The Labor Code provides that the minimum age for children's 
employment is 14; and that written parental or guardian permission, 
as well as a written contract, are mandatory conditions for 
employing children aged 14-16.  Moreover, children from 14-16 years 
old can work only 24 hours per week, and children from 16-18 years 
old only 36 hours (Articles 17, 89 and 140 of the Labor Code). 
Illegal employment of children is considered a violation of the 
procedures of the labor code, and therefore it is an administrative 
violation punishable by fines only. 
 
-- According to the Labor Code, children under 18 are prohibited 
from work in difficult and hazardous conditions (Article 257).  The 
Governmental Decree N-2308, "On approving the List of occupations 
considered heavy or dangerous for persons under 18, pregnant women 
and women who care for children under 1 year old," defines those 
hazardous conditions.  The decree took effect February 2, 2006.  The 
International Labor Organization (which has very limited information 
on Armenia and almost no presence in the country) has not yet 
commented on whether this decision meets the requirement set forth 
by ILO Convention 182 on developing a list of occupations considered 
to be worst forms of child labor as claimed by some government 
officials (ref B). 
 
-- The Criminal Code proscribes trafficking in persons and considers 
child trafficking an aggravating circumstance, which is punishable 
from 7 to 10 years imprisonment under Article 132 (Recruitment, 
transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons with the 
aim of exploitation) or from 7 to 12 years imprisonment in case of 
Article 132-1 (Engagement of other persons in prostitution or other 
forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, or slavery 
or practices similar to slavery).  In case of additional aggravating 
circumstances,  prison terms may reach 15 years. 
 
-- Article 166 of the Criminal Code proscribes involvement of 
children in anti-social activities, including prostitution, 
mendicancy, vagrancy, distribution or involvement in the making of 
pornography, punishable up to 5 years of imprisonment, or 6 if 
accompanied by violence or carried out towards two or more children. 
 (Note: This article is not consistent with the trafficking articles 
of the Criminal Code.  The Prosecutor General's office has 
acknowledged this deficiency in an information note provided to Post 
in November 20, 2008, in response to a trafficking query.  According 
to this note, the authorities plan to address the issue by viewing 
involvement in mendicancy and pornography as trafficking; it is not 
clear, however, how this will be done.  End Note.) 
 
-- Armenian males are registered for military conscription at 16, 
but are not subject to compulsory military service or voluntary 
recruitment until 18. 
 
B) Regulations for implementation and enforcement of proscriptions 
against the worst forms of child labor: 
 
-- The State Labor Inspectorate (SLI) is the main body in charge of 
discovering and prosecuting instances of exploitative child labor. 
 
YEREVAN 00000041  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
-- According to the deputy director of SLI Gurgen Malkhasian, the 
situation with child labor has not changed over the years, and the 
SLI has yet to receive a single complaint of child exploitation 
since its establishment in 2005.  According to Malkhasian, while the 
SLI has not conducted any inspections aimed specifically at 
discovering instances of child exploitation, during their general 
inspections they have not discovered any such violation.  According 
to Malkhasian, the SLI does not have inspectors specialized in child 
labor issues, since the problem remains insignificant and they have 
only a total of 140 labor inspectors who cover the entire country. 
Malkhasian told Poloff that they cover the issue of child labor 
during general training, but not as a separate issue. 
 
-- According to UNICEF Child Protection Officer Hayk Khemchyan, 
state agencies - the SLI and others - have not been successful in 
detecting child exploitation for a number of reasons including lack 
of resources and the fact that in most cases the children are not 
forced to work, but seek employment themselves to cope with harsh 
social conditions and poverty.  Therefore neither children nor their 
families go with complaints to the relevant authorities.  According 
to UNICEF the efficiency of government-run Child Protection Units 
varies from region to region and depends on the individuals who run 
them. 
 
-- The Ombudsman's office has not received any complaints about 
child labor exploitation during the reporting period or anytime 
before. 
 
C) Social programs specifically designed to prevent and withdraw 
children from the worst forms of child labor: 
 
-- The Government continues to provide various types of benefits to 
disadvantaged families; however it does not specifically address 
working children.  According Astghik Minasyan, director of the 
Social Support Department at the Ministry of Labor and Social 
Affairs, the government continues to issue a one-time allowance of 
20,000 AMD (about USD 65) to needy families for children entering 
the first grade.  This money is intended for the purchase of 
clothing and school supplies, and in 2008 about 9,400 households 
received this allowance.  There is also an average monthly pension 
provided to poor families that amounts to approximately 21,100 AMD 
(about USD 69); the actual amount varies based on the number of 
children and place of residence of the family.  In 2008 this pension 
was provided to 121,160 households, of which 76.35 percent were 
families with children.  (Note: According to Astghik Minasyan the 
Government is currently deliberating on a proposal to increase the 
amounts of these and other pensions for 2009.  End note.) 
 
-- On November 26, 2008 the Armenian parliament adopted the state 
budget for 2009, where for the first time the Government allocated 
money for anti-trafficking activities, and almost USD 53,000 is 
envisaged for trafficking shelter assistance.  (Note: Even though 
this money will be spent only during the next reporting period, the 
allocation was made this year, hence Post included the information 
in this report for DOL's information.  End note.) On November 27, 
2008 the government also adopted the long expected National Referral 
Mechanisms for trafficking victims. 
 
D) Comprehensive policies aimed at the elimination of the worst 
forms of child labor: 
 
-- The Armenian National Plan of Action for the Protection of the 
Rights of the Child covering the period from 2004-2015 envisages a 
program to ensure labor rights for children, prevention and 
elimination of child labor and exploitation to be carried out in the 
period from 2007 to 2015.  However, according to the head of Women 
and Children's Issues Section of the Ministry of Labor and Social 
Affairs Lena Hayrapetian, nothing has been done yet to fulfill this 
program, even though some actions are anticipated in the future. 
According to Hayrapetian, given financial constraints the ministry 
has not prioritized this issue, instead focusing on supporting the 
very poor families in keeping their children and not giving them to 
orphanages.  (Note: According to UNICEF, in 2009 this NPA will be 
reviewed and UNICEF plans to focus a lot more attention on child 
labor issues in that revision.  End note.) 
 
-- The National Plan of Action on Fighting Trafficking for 2007-2009 
that was adopted in December 2007 focuses in a separate chapter on 
taking measures to prevent trafficking of minors. 
 
-- Child labor is not included as an issue in the new Governmental 
Program on Sustainable Development covering the period from 2008 - 
2021 adopted in October 2008.  (Note: This program came to replace 
 
YEREVAN 00000041  003 OF 003 
 
 
the Poverty Reduction Strategy Program which technically expired in 
¶2006.  End note.) 
 
-- The minimum age for completing educational requirements in 
Armenia varies, according to the age when a child first enrolls in 
school.  Generally, primary and basic education is free and 
compulsory through age 14. 
 
E) Continued progress in eliminating the worst forms of child labor: 
 
 
-- The National Statistical Service (NSS) has not conducted any 
further surveys on the issue of child labor.  The only such survey 
was conducted in 2004 entitled "Labor Force and Child Labor in 
Armenia, 2001-2004," located at the following address - 
http://www.armstat.am/en/?nid=82&id=365.  (Note: The internet 
address has changed from ref B.  End note.) 
 
-- On October 30, 2008 UNICEF officially published the survey on 
child labor that it had mandated in 2007. (Note: Post had reported 
in ref B unofficial information obtained on the survey findings. 
This and other UNICEF surveys are located at -- 
http://www.unicef.org/armenia/resources.html -- website. End note.) 
 
 
-- The survey was conducted by the "Harmonic Society" Armenian 
Social Workers' Association NGO with funding from UNICEF Armenia. 
The surveyors interviewed 1,066 households and discovered that in 65 
of these households there was at least one working child and there 
were more than one in a few.  The total number of working children 
discovered was 71.  Therefore among all children in the sample 
(2,032 children in 1,066 households) 3.6 percent had jobs during the 
week preceding the survey; and 4.7 had jobs during the year before 
the survey.  The survey concludes that within one year 4.7 percent 
of children between 7 to 18 years had paid jobs, or that children in 
6.1 percent of households with children of corresponding age had 
paying jobs. 
 
-- According to the survey, the majority of working children in 
Armenia are boys, who generally work in construction, car 
maintenance service and agriculture.   Almost one third of working 
children were below the legal working age; most children worked 
without legal contracts; some of the children were employed in heavy 
manual work as laborers and loaders; about half the children worked 
the whole week; more than half of the children worked from morning 
until evening; a large portion worked long hours; and some worked at 
night.  The average workload of working children was 40 hours.  The 
employer often requested that children work overtime, which was paid 
with the usual rate.  Ninety-one percent of working children were 
not happy with the unfavorable conditions of work. 
 
-- There have been no registered cases of children working in 
slavery or practices similar to slavery. 
 
-- In the reporting period itinerant labor migration to Russia 
remained a factor in Armenian society.  Hence, in order to prevent 
illegal migration and possible cases of labor trafficking, the 
Migration Agency (under the Ministry of Territorial Administration) 
continued its program, started in 2006, of conducting 
awareness-raising campaigns with the assistance of the Russian 
Migration Agency throughout the regions of Armenia. 
 
YOVANOVITCH